The Day May's Heart Went Cold
by annavale23
Summary: A one shot about Melinda May at the S.H.I.E.L.D Academy. Enjoy, and please review! x


**Disclaimer: I don't own S.H.I.E.L.D**

**Hey guys! This is a one shot about Melinda May at the S.H.I.E.L.D Academy, Enjoy, and don't forget to tell me what you thought in the review box at the end! x**

* * *

"State your name." The computer asks me calmly as I stand outside my new dorm room, a box of my meagre possessions in my arms.

For some reason, instead of keeping my lovely small haven of my own room, the Academy bosses here thought it would be better for me to socialise with people in my grade, so I can gain 'People Skills'. Whatever. I'm not training to become a damn checkout girl, am I? I'm aiming higher, for a job as a solo agent. A job that will _not_ need some idiotic people skills.

"Melinda May." I tell the computer, which automatically unlocks the door for me. I kick it open with my steel-toed boots - in part because I have no free hands and also because I have never opened a door here at the Academy with my hands in all the 2 years I've spent here - and stride into the room, making towards the empty mattress they're calling a bed, with a pile of regulation grey and navy sheets and pillows set neatly on it. On the other bed, across the room, is a girl. She's unpacked already and is sitting there, neat pigtails, perfectly pressed skirt with expectant eyes fixed on me. Bright pink ribbons adorn her caramel hair and she's wearing a light layer of makeup. I ignore her coolly, setting my stuff down. I begin to make my bed and store away my possessions, like there isn't a girl sat on the other bed staring at me intently. When everything is tucked away, I turn to the girl.

"Hi." She smiles, her teeth sparkling white, her lips coloured a pale pink. "I'm Cassy." She stretches out one manicured hand to me. How some of these girls here dress, you wouldn't think that they're attending a S.H.I.E.L.D training school. It hangs there uncertainly for a few pregnant moments when I don't take it, before dropping back to her side. Her eyes are wide, brown and innocent. _Great. _I think darkly. _They've given me a nice, sweet girl for a room mate. I bet she's all girly and perfumed. How annoying. _"You're Melinda May, right? The Academy's golden child?" Cassy continues brightly.

"Let's get a few rules down." I say sharply. "Just because we're roommates doesn't mean we're friends. As far as I'm concerned, you don't exist. So we don't speak to each other, we don't acknowledge each other and we sure as hell do not call me 'the Academy's golden child'. Okay?"

Cassy nods, her body twisting up so she's smaller, more turned in on herself. I sit on my bed with my feet up, plug in my earbuds and flip open my textbook on infiltration and spying. I try to squash the memory of Cassy's thin voice telling me that I'm the golden child. Because that's exactly what I am. I'm the youngest in all of my classes at 14, whereas everyone else is 16, because I'm a prodigy. And everyone at this Academy knows it. There are only 2 types of people at this school: the people who suck up to me and the people who downright hate me. But I'm not going to let it get to me, because I _need_ to graduate and become an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's the only way I'll ever be truly free.

* * *

MORNING dawns on me quickly. I'm up before Cassy's even blinked open her eyes and I'm walking towards our communal showers. I shower quickly, dressing equally fast. Down in the cafeteria, I eat an apple while studying Bio for a test, ignoring the people around me. It's been this way ever since I arrived in a grade 2 years older than me, and they realised that I was clever. In everything. And that made me a mortal enemy or the perfect buddy. I was interested in becoming none of these things.

Then someone sits down opposite me. I roll my eyes, biting into my apple. The person's around 5 ft 11, with dark spiky hair. And his name's Tyler, the only person who ignores my wishes to be left alone and bothers me anyway.

"Yo, Melinda!" He grins. I turn a page in my textbook, acting nonchalant. "Studying for our Bio test?"

I know from experience that my threats have no effect on Ty, so I sigh and answer him.

When I first came here, Ty dogged me for at least 3 weeks, every day. I would hit him, kick him, yell abuse at him, threaten his life...but he wouldn't leave me alone. So in the end I decided to treat him like an abandoned dog: give him a nibble on the bone but don't let him have it completely. Keep control of the bone. (The bone being me in this context).

"Yes, Ty. Because unlike you, I care about my grades." I finish off the apple and chuck the core in the bin. I always eat at least one apple a day, more from habit than a liking for apples. My mother used to force me, as a child, to eat one a day, to 'keep the doctor away'.

"I care. I just don't need to study: I'm gifted." Ty's mouth remains in the same stupid, stupid grin. I don't like Ty, but I don't exactly hate him either. Other than bother me, he doesn't really do much else to give me a reason to despise him. In another world, we could probably be friends. If we had met before 'The Incident', that is.

The bell rings shrilly, interrupting me from my thoughts. I smile sweetly at Ty, contempt leaking from every pore. Just because he's given me no reason to hate him utterly doesn't mean that I can't feel contempt for him.

"I'll see you in class." I walk off, slinging my bag over my shoulder casually as I walk away, feeling Ty's eyes burn into my back.

* * *

CLASS passes without event, and then we're at Biology. Ty winks at me outside the room as we wait for the Instructor.

"So, Melinda. You ready for this test?" He asks, leaning against the wall. His eyes are shadowed but have a glint of humor in them: bcause I have never _not_ been ready for a test.

"What do you think, Ty?" I snap, folding my arms over my chest, seeing the other students stare at Ty and I. There's already been rumor spread about Ty and I dating, because he's the only one who will talk to me, and the only one that I don't punch in the crotch. But that's only because I know it won't make Ty desist. In fact, it'll make him want to talk to me more.

The Instructor arrives and lets us in. We sit down on our indiviual desks - mine is at the bck corner, tucked out off everyone's sight - as he sets the papers out. I take out my pen and start to fill out the answers as soon as he says 'go'. The test is fairly basic, and I finish quickly. Ty sits way in front of me, so I can see the back of his dark head. The thought of dark hairmakes me shiver as I remember 'The Incident'. That dark alley, their dark hair, the laughter, the flash of silver as I brought out my knife...I shake myself mentally.

That happened years ago, May. So stop thinking about it.

I tell myself sternly. But somehow, I know that at the back of my mind, the images are playing on fast forward.

* * *

WEEKS later, and I'm alone in the training hall, polishing off my punches on the punch bag. All I can hear is the sound of my fist slamming into the bag and my heavy breathing.

And then someone grabs my wrist.

I spin around and kick, my foot landing in their stomach. Ty groans, letting go off me and sinking to the floor. I stand above him with my arms crossed calmly.

"That hurt." He gets up.

"Don't sneak up on me, then." I say, my arms still crossed. Slowly, Ty walks up to me, backing me to the wall. I don't panic, although I'm bascially pinned in, because while I don't trust Ty, I trust my own abilities to get free if I need to. Ty pushes a stray lock of my black hair behind my ear. I move my face away from his touch.

"Melinda, I don't get you." He says quietly. "You could rule this Academy. Instead, you want to be the plankton on the food chain."

"Better to be plankton than a shark." I quip back. Ty leans in closer, so I can feel his breath, hot and uncomfortable, on my skin. I stand still, ignoring my discomfort.

"But you're the most beautiful girl in this grade." He continues. "You could have it all. You can still have it all." He says, his face coming closer. I stare back, keeping my stance. _If he kisses me, I'll kill him. I'll kill him_.

And then he kisses me. And instead of killing him, I kiss him back. Our mouths are soft and ready.

But then I remember a kiss from long ago. A kiss in an alley. But not a kiss of the lips. The kiss of my blade as it sliced through the guy's chest, cutting him right open. I'm paralysed, my mind showing me the images: the guy who I though was harmless, who really wanted to take me into an alley and kill me; my blade coming out of my waistband an slicing up in an arc and my footsteps echoing on the cobbles as I walked away, letting him bleed to death on the path.

And then I remember that why I can't let people get close to me. I back off, hitting into the punch bag, haking my head. Ty follows me, pinning me against the bag. He means it nicely, but I attack on instict, my fist going up and hitting straight under the jaw. Ty's eyes roll back in his head and he crumples to the floor. He doesn't move. I lean down next to him and check his pulse. Nothing. He's dead. My punch must of been strong enough to knock his brain stone dead.

I stand up and walk away, leaving Ty's crumpled body on the floor. His dead staring eyes follow me as I walk calmly out of the training room and up to my bed, where I lie down with my earbud in.

Melinda May.

I tell myself. _You can never trust someone again. Never. Because you'll kill them. You'll kill them all. _

_Because you are a monster_.

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